Thieves wielding power tools robbed the Louvre on Sunday, taking some of France's priceless crown jewels in a brazen, seven-minute heist carried out in broad daylight, officials and sources said.

Authorities recovered a 19th-century gem-encrusted crown -- damaged -- near the museum, but the culprits were still at large and the target of a manhunt.

The spectacular robbery, one of several to target French museums in recent months, forced the closure for the rest of the day of the Louvre, the world's most-visited museum and home to the Mona Lisa.

Armed soldiers patrolled around the famed glass pyramid entrance, while police teams were seen going inside. Evacuated visitors, tourists and passersby were kept at a distance behind police tape.

It was "like a Hollywood movie", one American tourist, Talia Ocampo, told AFP.

It was "crazy" and "something we won't forget -- we could not go to the Louvre because there was a robbery", she said.

The robbers used a powered, extendable ladder of the sort........

© International Business Times